LIVING OFF GRID

This blog is about our travels in our solar powered "Airstream" and living off grid, in our passive solar home, near Bancroft, Ontario, Canada.

If you have any questions send us a comment; we love to hear from our readers.

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Tuesday, 8 January 2013

IT'S A LEARNING CURVE

Living off grid in the bush is a learning curve for us. There are things we will do differently next year for sure. One change will be the way we store our firewood.Presently we have our wood in wooden bins each holding about half a cord. This works well for me as I can move the bins easily with our bobcat.

The problem is moisture. Snow and rain can dampen the wood and then it is difficult to use in our wood stove.This summer a suitable storage shelter, capable of allowing the air in but not the rain and snow will be built. If you have any suggestions send them along. I'm thinking something about 16 ft. by 12 ft. This would hold 8 full cords of firewood, plenty for us to make it through the winter.Since our radiant floor heating hasn't been hooked up we are relying on our wood stove to heat 2, 100 square feet of living space. So far we are toasty warm, even on those days when it is -22*C outside. Because of the house design we can go away for the day, let the fire die out and still come home to a warm house. This is possible thanks to the massive thermal mass built into this house. It truly is amazing.Thanks for stopping by and safe travels everyone.

ABOUT US

We are two retired Canadians who have just moved into our off grid passive solar home. This is all new to us and we are surprised at how comfortable the house is regardless of the temperature outside. When not home we are usually travelling in our Airstream trailer exploring North America and meeting like minded people.
Mary loves to quilt and Art enjoys photography. We both enjoy camping, hiking, canoeing, travelling and cross-country skiing.
Come along with us and share our adventures as we settle into this new life off the electrical grid.